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Early Civilizations Review
Honors World History
8/17/16
What is a civilization
• Society with high levels of
culture and social organization
– Formal states, writing, cities,
trade, etc
• Where did the first civilization
emerge?
• Along river valleys (3500 BCE)
• What contributes to the
development of civilization
• Specialization of labor (steady
supply of food allows other
people to build, invent, create
tools, art, govt. etc
MAPS
http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/maptext_n2/start1.html
Fertile Crescent
• Fertile Crescent
- Between Tigris
and Euphrates
Rivers
• Also known as
Mesopotamia
• Many city-states
within the region
Writing
• Cuneiform
-Oldest in the World
-Wedge depressions
in clay tablets
-Formed from a reed
stylus (like a pen)
The Code of Hammurabi
 first written set
of laws
 Created by Babylonian
leader: Hammurabi
 282+ laws, applied to
everyone- though
punishments were different
depending on social class
Babylonian Leader
1792-1750 B.C.E
Review: Mesopotamia
• Located in the “Fertile Crescent”
• Many societies lived there (Babylonians,
Sumerians, later Hebrews)
• Major developments
– Cuneiform- first writing system
– Irrigation- control water
– Agriculture- plants and animals for food
– Hammurabi’s Code- first legal system
– Systems of Time and Early Math
Ancient Egypt
• Old Kingdom: 2700BCE to
2200BCE
– Pharaohs
– Creation of Social Classes
• Middle Kingdom: 2200BCE
to 1652BCE
– Wars with Neighbors
– Developed chariots
• New Kingdom: 1652BCE to
1085BCE
– Most powerful and largest
state in SW Asia
Egypt: “The Gift of the Nile”
• 4,160 miles longest
river in the world
• Predictable
flooding
• carried rich
deposits of silt
along with it.
• primary means of
communication
and
transportation.
• Pharaoh
– King, also considered god on earth
– The link between the people and the gods,
therefore ensuring the welfare and prosperity of the
country.
• The death of the pharaoh was a critical
– because the well-being of the state depended on
him.
– every effort was made to ensure that he had a safe
journey back to the gods in his afterlife.
Mummification
Mummify to
preserve a sound
body for the Ka
(soul) to return to
– 70 day process
– Improper embalming
leads to second true
death
–
Israelites
• 1200BCE- small group in Middle East
• 970 BCE to 930BCE- control Palestine under King Solomon
– Built temple in Jerusalem
– Powerful army, expanded trade
– Israel splits in two after King Solomon’s death
• Israelites split into nomadic tribes, become stateless
– eventually conquered by Assyrians and Persians
– Tribe from Judah survive- known as “Jews”
Judaism
•The Israelites were
monotheistic, believing in
one God.
•The Israelites believed
God to be all-knowing, allpowerful, and present
everywhere.
•Holy Book- The Torah
•Outlines moral and
personal guidelines